Falling of the Flames
by SixPerfections
Summary: Reborn into the world of Remnant one girl discovers how easy it is to fall. When the world seems made up of nothing but monsters, greed and betrayal right and wrong can start to lose their meaning. A new world order might just be what the world needs as long as sisters Cinder and Ember Fall come out on top. However one cannot underestimate the power of a smaller, more honest soul.
1. Introduction

I'd always thought of myself as a good person. Someone who knew right from wrong and would make the moral choice at least ninety-nine times out of a hundred. Even though I'd dabbled in martial arts in my previous life for fun I'd never been able to fully commit to hitting another person out of fear of hurting them, even if I thought they probably deserved it. I'd never been perfect but I'd always just assumed that I was a good person on the balance.

When I willingly dropped to one knee before Queen Salem, bowed my head in submission and pledged my loyalty to her and her cause… that was when I first realized that I must have been deluding myself all along.

As I saw it there were three strong personality traits in me that eventually led me to this end result.

One, I'd always been more comfortable as a follower than a leader. I had never had an Alpha personality. I'd never had any grand ambitions I'd been driven to fulfill. When it came to dealing with other people I had always either just gone with the flow or simply walked away.

In this case, however, simply walking away had never been in the cards.

Two, trust. I looked at my older sister out of the corner of my eye. All of this had been at her insistence. She had her flaws, yes, but I knew that she always had our best interests at heart and that she loved me more than anyone else in the world. Because she had ensured me that this was the best choice for us I'd swallowed my reservations and done as she'd asked.

Three, loyalty. Cinder had sacrificed so much for us, for me, that I would willingly follow her into hell itself. She was the very last of my family across two lives. Where she went, I would follow, because that is what I owed her. I'd follow her because we were inseparable. Because we shared a connection that would always be ours and ours alone. When she smiled at me and I felt the warmth of the Fire between us I knew that I could never have made any other choice.

Maybe this had been my destiny. Maybe this had been inevitable all along.

I was Ember Fall, younger sister to Cinder Fall. My place was at her side. And the world, as they said, could burn.


	2. First Memories

I won't bore you with too many details of my death. It is enough to say that I was sixteen and, through a terrible case of hepatitis acquired abroad and some complicated medical jargon that essentially made me ineligible to receive a liver transplant, I suddenly found myself about to die young and very angry for it. My family was devastated when they heard the news and, I dare say, none of us handled it with the serenity and grace one would hope to have in such a situation.

After months of depression, anger and crippling sickness I finally slipped into a coma that I never woke up from. At least that is what I assumed finally killed me, as it was expected. For all I know someone held a pillow to my face to help me along there at the end, maybe my dear old mum finally took my black, bitter humor seriously enough to help me along to the other side.

I'm not entirely sure if I would have cursed her or thanked her for it at the time.

What happened next was... confusing.

There was no white light, at least none that I remember. Just a confused murky semi-consciousness, where I couldn't quite think but I wasn't quite unaware either. There was just the passage of time, a sense of comfort and a state of mind not unlike that of a restless dream. And it was warm. Oh was it warm, warm in a way that seemed to soak all the way through. It was all very comforting in a way I had never experienced before. Some dim part of me mused that maybe this was heaven. No worries, no concrete thoughts, no struggles, all I was required to do was just... exist.

And then came the pain.

It was fortunate that people do not remember their birth since it is, bar none, one of the most traumatic things I have ever experienced. All of a sudden the walls around me began to collapse and _squeeze,_ to where it felt like all my bones would have been crushed to powder if they hadn't been quite so spongey. My haven, my paradise that I had known since my death, was suddenly trying to kill me. I was crushed as I was forced out. Then everything was too sensitive. The things touching me, too rough, too intense, painful against my beyond sensitive skin. Breathing felt alien and it burned my lungs. Sounds were confusing, disorienting and the new sensation of brightness burned my eyes.

Being born feels like the equivalent of torture. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

0OoO0

For some reason after my birth I don't remember anything until I was about three years old. Suddenly, it seemed, the memories of my previous life all came back to me at once. I remember it as a distressing and profoundly confusing experience.

It didn't help that having all those memories didn't suddenly make me a teen in the body of a toddler. Rather I was suddenly a toddler with all the memories of a teen from another world. I simply lacked even the physical capacity to make sense of any of those memories. So I got scared and when I did I did what any toddler would do: I sat up in my crib and began to cry like the very Grimm were suddenly stripping the very skin off my flesh.

That was when I met Cinder for the very first time.

I'd been crying so hard I never even noticed anyone enter the room I was in, so the shock of suddenly feeling someone pick me up silenced me for a few moments. When I turned my (very heavy) head to look I saw that I was being held by a girl of about ten years old, her expression set somewhere between annoyance and panicky concern. Her hair was raven black and her eyes were a bright amber that almost seemed gently glow with an inner light. She spoke to me, and even though I couldn't really understand a word she was saying the tone made it clear that she was gently chiding me.

Somehow that just set me off again and I began crying with renewed vigor. It must have been something unusual because her previous annoyance vanished and was replaced with surprise and a look of almost utter panic. The girl hugged me to her tightly, sat down on the floor and began to rub my back soothingly, all the time speaking her nonsense words to try to get me to calm down.

That was when I first felt it. It was a… warmth, I guess, smooth and soothing inside my chest. And, somehow, I could feel the same warmth in the girl holding me. It was weird. It was surprising. But it was… nice. Comforting. Natural. By the way the girl stilled for a moment I'm guessing the sensation surprised her too.

Suddenly I could _feel_ her worry and her desire to help. Acting out of instinct I threw out my feelings, somehow wanting her to _know_ my fear and confusion and how it was all too much for me to handle. Hesitantly at first but then with growing confidence I felt her send back her own feelings. They were feelings of fierce protectiveness, of support and of profound love. That combined with her soothing words and the circles she was rubbing on my back slowly helped me to calm down. I clung to the dark haired girl and our feelings passed back and forth between us, warm and reassuring… until I suddenly started feeling really tired and could no longer keep my eyes open.

I wanted to protest when she put me back in the crib but I was at least eighty percent asleep by then. When she stepped away I sent her feelings that could best be described as _clinginess_. The girl pulled herself up and leaned over the crib, running her hands affectionately through my thin baby hair and lowering her head so she could whisper in my ear. For some reason her words seemed to almost sear themselves into my mind. I didn't understand what she said of course. Later however, when I learned the world's language, I would look back and remember what she spoke to me that night.

 _"You're my treasure, little sister. I'll always be nearby to protect you."_

Then I could feel the _clinginess_ I was feeling reflected many times more strongly in the warmth in her, in the warmth that resided in her own chest. The feeling was pure and bright and strong and for some reason it helped to put me at ease that I wasn't the only one feeling that way. The last thing I felt were her lips brushing my cheek before sleep finally pulled me into oblivion.


	3. Remnant

0OoO0

 _ **Year XX68**_

I was five years old and being informally taught by my mother when I began to realize that all of this seemed strangely familiar.

I was looking up at my mother, Uto, in wide-eyed childish wonder as she sat me on her lap and smiled lovingly down at me. She was speaking and I did my best to follow along. Her words were in the language of this land, simply referred to as "Common", which when spoken sounded like some bizarre amalgamation of Arabic and French with the rising and falling tones that were so important in Mandarin Chinese. Uto seemed amused by my open mouthed amazement at the lessons she was imparting.

"So, as I was saying, Mrs. Lepur is a faunus. Faunus are different from humans in a few different ways, but the most obvious is that they always have some trait that is distinctly animal-like. You've seen faunus before believe it or not… but often times faunus like to hide their animal parts whenever possible. Of course, Mrs. Lepur can't very well hide those huge bunny ears of hers very easily, now can she?" mother asked me with a smile.

I smiled back: I always did that. It was like I couldn't help myself, with the smiling back. Probably, it was just something kids did. Despite having the confusing mess of memories from an "American" teenager I was still very much a five year old. I was just a kid in all the ways that mattered… including loving my mother very, very much.

Even if she didn't have the Fire inside of her. Not like dad, Cinder and I did.

I mulled over what my mom was saying to me as I played with her long hair, wavy and a dark chestnut brown. A frown creeped its way onto my face. While I had the memories of a much older person, my thought process was still that of a five year old. "So… does that mean that faunus are not people?" I asked, looking up at her with wide questioning eyes. For some reason that thought made me uneasy. All of this was starting to sound strangely familiar.

"Of course they are, no matter what anyone else says," Uto said to me, giving me an uncharacteristically serious look. "All the proof you need is the fact that they have souls, just like humans do. If they were mere animals the light of their souls would not be able to shine forth and protect them. They have Aura just like we do, and in the end that is all that matters."

A mere _yes_ would have satisfied me at the time, but mom was never one to miss an opportunity to educate her daughters. Still... what was she talking about? "Light of their souls? What is that? And 'Aura'?" I asked, and something big seemed to be building in my subconscious mind, memories of the past that seemed just out of reach.

"I'll teach you more about that another time," she told me, "but in short, it's what lets humans survive in the world against the creatures of Grimm." I could tell by the look on her face, a momentary flash of panic and discomfort, that perhaps she hadn't meant to say that last part.

"Grimm?" I asked, curiosity piqued.

"You're maybe a little too young to learn about them yet honey," said Uto, apologetic but firm. "But knowing you Ember you won't leave me alone without an explanation… sufficed to say that out there in the world there are monsters. Aura, the light of our souls, is what lets Hunters and Huntresses deal with them."

 _What…?_

I'd heard about Hunters and Huntresses, spoken of in tones of respect and near reverence, but I'd just kind of assumed it was a cultural thing why people seemed to put so much weight on the profession of hunting animals. But… from what my mom was saying, Hunters and Huntresses didn't hunt animals. They hunted monsters.

All of this sounded very familiar.

Slowly memories of an internet show she (I?) used to watch began to trickle forth to the forefront of my little five year old mind.

You have to understand, it wasn't so easy to make the connection. English words like " _Grimm_ ", " _Aura_ ", " _Faunus_ " and all the others were quite different from the Common tongue spoken across most of Remnant. I had to translate the meanings in my head and it wasn't as easy as you would think, especially at that age.

A few words were almost identical however.

The first thing that made me think that maybe there was actually a link between the cartoon from my memories and my real life now was, strangely enough, the name of the kingdom we lived in. It was very close, almost identical to the English word. _Vacuo_ , the kingdom was called in the show from my memories… except it was pronounced very different here, the V instead sounding like a hard vulgar F, like you would use in the word "fuck".

There was also another word English word that was somewhat familiar, _Grimm_. In Common however it was pronounced something like "Ghreen" but it was just close enough to be recognizable. Other than that none of the words were really very close at all. But still… it got me thinking.

Then a broken montage of memories suddenly came to me. A red dress, heels and long legs with eyes like smoldering flames. Black hair, fire and a voice like a dangerous caress. Criminal, terrorist, mastermind. Her name, in English, was _Cinder Fall_. Our last name, in common, meant autumn. Another word for fall. Suddenly I started to feel very uneasy. My mom could instantly tell when I started to become fussy and unhappy.

"Ember, what's wrong?" Uto asked me with obvious concern.

"Mommy," I asked her, my voice sounding childish even to my ears, "what does Cinder mean?"

She seemed surprised by my seemingly random question, but answered anyway. "It means a small piece of partly burned coal or wood that is still smoldering. Perhaps even with a few embers left in it as well."

So… _Cinder Fall_ in English… meant Cinder Fall in Common too.

Nothing really changed for me that day, at least on the outside. So my completely awesome and beloved older sister maybe was… ? Could be? Some kind of bad guy? In the future? That is if anything I remembered from this show " _RWBY_ " actually translated to this world. I was still skeptical. But… the question had been posed, and the possibility opened up in my mind, however scary it might have been to acknowledge it.

If this was the _Remnant_ from _RWBY_ , then this world was much more terrifying than I had been lead to believe in my short five years of life. A death world, even. It was a scary thought, so I buried my face in my mother's neck and greedily took in her comforting scent. She tried to get me to tell her what was wrong, but I wouldn't say anything, my mind filled with impossibilities and fresh new fears.


	4. Arrival

A/N: I started writing this story on a whim of an idea… which was fine, great really, right up until the point I realized I'm utterly incapable of writing anything nowadays unless I've planned out the whole plot line ahead of time. Sooo… I had to go back and think of how I was going to do this and came up with some ideas that I kind of liked.

Instead of doing a linear progression of "born then child then teen" etc I'm going to skip around a bit, mostly because I'm excited to start writing where "canon" kicks off. Most chapters will start off with a "flashback" segment before going back to the "present". This is somewhat experimental for me, so if it comes off as weird or not working right I'd love to get some feedback. I'd also like some feedback about things people like and think are working too, naturally.

I'm excited to write this one. It's been a while since I've felt this way about a new project.

Also… PLEASE no volume 5 spoilers! I'm holding off to watch any of the episodes until I can binge at least 5-6 of them in a row. If I was REALLY smart I'd hold off on continuing this fic until volume 5 was over and new revelation abound that might contradict what I write but… well, I don't want to wait. If any issues come up with the new canon reveals in volume 5 I'll make it work… somehow. :)

Without further ado… here we go, the first chapter in the "present" and, in a way, where our story truly starts.

Enjoy!

0OoO0

 ** _Year XX80 – Present_**

Stepping off the airship onto Beacon Academy was… surreal. Unsettling. Vaguely hostile, even. However it was hard for me to deny that there was a certain sort of… _grandeur_ , a certain sort of majesty to the place that couldn't help but inspire.

With a resigned sigh I let the press of departing passengers push me along. People left and right gave me strange looks when they saw me but I resolutely ignored them all. It was my hunting outfit they were looking at, I knew. But really, the students who attended Beacon had _no business_ throwing stones at what other people chose to wear.

We were going to be learning to hunt monsters the academy, not going to a Grimm-damned nightclub or fetish club. Seriously, people. Miniskirts and heels were _not_ acceptable fighting and hunting attire.

(Unless you were my big sister. Then you were so cool you could basically pull off and get away with anything you want.)

In the end, however, what others at Beacon thought of me was about as important as nipples on a male dog. I had no real intention of befriending anyone anyway. After all my mission to infiltrate Beacon had some very definite goals and parameters… and thankfully, _none_ of them relied on my social skills.

I was glad that at least big sis kept my… _areas of expertise_ in mind, let's just say.

I was a great deal _less_ glad that she had practically forced me to go on this mission in the first place.

Frankly, I thought it was a waste of time.

Things had worked out well enough for us in Vale the first time without my intervention, hadn't they?

There were other, more useful things I could be doing.

On top of that this whole coming to Beacon thing was making me very… _uncomfortable._ More so than it really should. Though, to be honest, I would have been hard pressed to put into words why this job at Beacon was bothering me so much.

Readjusting the heavy weight of the unfamiliar weapon across my back I made the long trek from the airfield to the school with my chin held high and my eyes moving everywhere from behind my dark glasses, constantly scanning everyone for potential threats. Being surrounded by so many people with weapons, even if they were just students, was making me badly itch in between my shoulder blades. It was, quite frankly, all I could do not to dive into closest set of bushes off the side of the path just so I would no longer have an untold number of armed and dangerous Aura users at my back and all around me.

I very quickly stepped out of the flow of humanity heading to Beacon's main entrance as soon as I could without looking like I was running. My actions gained me a few questioning looks which I promptly ignored. Looking around I found myself in a large courtyard with the iconic Beacon academy statue of a hunter and huntress in the center. Moving off to the side and away from the stream of new and returning students I found an out of the way bench which happened to have clear lines of sight of all the entrances and exits of the courtyard and conveniently placed a nice tall pillar at my back. I sat down and furrowed my brows furrowed as I considered my situation.

While outwardly I maintained my cool inwardly I sighed heavily. Part of me thought Cinder was playing some kind of cruel joke on me. Eventually I'd shared with her – and _only_ her – my "memories" of being an American teenager watching a show called _RWBY_ , volumes one through four before that teenager had tragically and painfully died of liver failure. After I'd convinced her I hadn't simply been snorting raw Dust and she'd gotten at least some independent confirmation of my story she had come up with this plan to have me infiltrate Beacon… right on time to join the very same class as teams _RWBY, JNPR_ and all of that other bunch.

Cinder said this was all because she wanted someone she trusted on the inside. Ozpin was the enemy after all. But if she really believed that what was in my memories was accurate, why would this even be necessary? We were in an even better position now than Cinder had been in the "show" of my memories.

The whole thing was odd in more ways than one, and it was _not_ how we usually operated. Hell, she'd even had me register at Beacon using my real frikking name. Ember Fall. Not even a pseudonym. That in particular had been very out of character and it honestly left me feeling vulnerably exposed. I had no idea what the hell she was thinking and I didn't like it one bit.

Not that Cinder would have thrown me deep into enemy territory without a plan… or without any backup either. Big sis tended to be just a _tad_ overprotective of me even at the best of times. The mission should be perfectly safe (relatively speaking of course) so long as I didn't seriously mess up, but still… having an extra bit of insurance at Beacon never hurt.

Things were different now than from what I remembered in the show after all.

With another sigh I leaned back, folded my hands across my front and decided to spend my time people watching. I'd come in on the very first airship to leave Vale and I knew they would be ferrying students back and forth for a few more hours. If I was lucky, well… I remembered a particular instance, where even before entering Beacon proper little Ruby Rose bumped into Weiss Schnee and caused a minor scene with exploding Dust. Curious if things would play out as I remembered them I tried my best to fade into the background and kept an eye out for any familiar faces.

As fate would have it, I had only been sitting for maybe twenty minutes before I saw someone I recognized.

She was dressed in black and white, her outfit provocative (if impractical) and showing off a flat and well-toned belly. A black sleeve covered her left arm and I could see the hilt of a black weapon peeking over her right shoulder. Most telling of all however was the suspiciously large bow she had on top of her head.

I had to swallow to clear my suddenly dry throat. _Damn_. That outfit clinging to her form that way should _not_ have been legal. And, holy crap, would you look at that? She was very unambiguously walking my way.

Blake Belladonna. She was the first person that I recognized in that place, the first Beacon student I could actually name from my memories that I had seen since stepping off the airship. Her walk in my direction was half-stalking, half-runway model, all swaying of hips and feminine grace. If you'll pardon the horrible pun, she walked like a very sexy cat. Or leopard. How someone could see her simply _strut_ \- because it became apparent very quickly that Blake Belladona did not walk, she _strut_ \- and not notice there was something just a little bit different about her was beyond me. Just a little bit _inhuman_. Faunus, while mostly human, still tended to have a few tells that had nothing to do with their animal bits. It was in the way they walked, in their eyes, in the way they tended to hold themselves among humans like they expected an unpleasant confrontation - verbal or otherwise - to break out at any moment. I think every one of us in Cinder's Raiders would have noticed right away that something was different about Blake Belladonna.

Then again, maybe I was giving those mouthy little shits a little too much credit.

I'll admit that for a moment I got very tense, wondering what in the world Blake Belladonna, ex-main squeeze of White Fang leader and surliest bag of dicks I had ever met Adam Taurus, was doing headed in my direction. Then I noticed that she wasn't looking at me at all, but rather she was looking at the ground as she walked, seemingly lost in thought. When she stopped a few feet away from me and sat down on the other end of the bench I was on, I understood. That bench was the best place in the courtyard to keep an eye on all entrances and exits while doing a decent job of remaining unobtrusive. It wasn't a surprise than an ex-Fang member like Blake would hone in on that just like I had.

As Blake seemed to scan the courtyard before seeming satisfied and pulling out a book, I debated with myself if I should say anything. The first thing that came to mind was that I had _more_ than enough material to blackmail her. The thought brought a smile to my lips behind my high collar. But no, there was no reason to do that. If anything it would just increase the risks for me with no real gains to speak of. Still…

I was curious about Blake Belladonna. I'd seen her once before, just a brief glimpse when I'd accompanied sis to the former White Fang headquarters here in Vale about a year ago. Despite what Blake had implied in the show at that time it was clear to me she had been neck deep in Adam's operations, otherwise she would not have been at a base that had been stockpiling weapons and Dust.

So, okay. If you're curious about her you just have to start a conversation. Start a normal, regular conversation with the super sexy girl next to me. My palms suddenly started feeling sweaty inside of my gloves. I could totally do that. People did that all the time right? Just talk about… stuff. Be casual. Ignore the sudden speeding up of my heart.

 _Its okay,_ I told myself. _You can do this._

"Hi," I ventured nervously, my voice coming out an octave higher than I'd really wanted it to.

Blake, for her part, did not even look up from her book. "Hello," she drawled back in a slow, completely disinterested tone that very clearly said _leave me the fuck alone_.

I felt my eyebrow twitch in irritation at that. Really, I was just trying to be friendly. And I really did _not_ appreciate being blown off like that.

 _Keep it cool. Try to be nice._

"So, uh," I tried again, stumbling over my words, "Beacon… it really is… something, huh?"

Blake turned the page on her book, making a "Hn" sound that could have meant anything. But mostly it just came across as irritated.

 _Okay. Deep breath. Calm down._ There was a solid minute of silence as I struggled to come up with something nice and interesting and diplomatic to say. This… really wasn't my strong suit. But I really wanted to talk to and at least get a feel for Blake, this at one time intriguing and melancholy character from my memories. In the end, after a great deal of strain and effort, there was only one topic of conversation that I managed to come up with.

"What are you reading?" I asked, struggling to make my tone as friendly and chipper as I could manage.

"A book," she replied dismissively, again without even glancing in my direction.

 _Irritation rising._ I forced a smile on my face and tried not to let my annoyance show in my voice. "A book about what?"

"None of your business," Blake replied, an edge of warning that said _leave me the hell alone_ in her voice.

 _You know what? Fuck it,_ I thought, my very limited patience and desire to play nice drying up like water on the scorching dunes of my native Vacuo. _I've never been able to make friends anyway._

"You know," I said, my voice suddenly dropping an octave. "If you know what to look for, you can often spot a faunus even if you can't see their animal traits."

Blake's whole body _froze_ at that, and I'm pretty sure that I saw that bow of hers twitch. A self-satisfied smile settled on my lips even if no one would be able to see it from underneath my collar. One of the lessons I had learned from Cinder and… others. Finding something precious to another person is one of the easiest ways to take control of a situation.

Slowly her head turned to look at me, and I could tell by the sudden slightly befuddled look in her eyes that this was the first proper look she'd gotten. What I wore as my hunting outfit was considered unusual. Thick leather pants, heavy boots, a long leather overcoat with heavy duty gloves and leather vambraces. My face was covered in black cloth and I wore a pair of dark round sunglasses with side shields on them. To top it all off, a well-worn leather tricorn hat sat on top of my head.

There was a story behind my outfit, you see. Ember Fall had never felt like someone who could hunt monsters while growing up, and most definitely the American teenager I used to be was not such a person either. So in order to become someone who could do the job of a huntress, I had needed to become someone else. Someone tough. Someone strong. Someone who could survive and win against incredible odds. Someone who _could_ do the job. In the end I chose to become someone from a game that I had played in a previous life. When monster hunting was involved, I no longer was Ember Fall. Instead I became The Hunter. And since I became The Hunter, someone who could single handedly kill eldritch abominations of untold power, it was only fitting that I dressed the part of The Hunter. My outfit was almost an exact replica of the iconic outfit from that game.

On the plus side, coupled with Aura and my Semblance the outfit was very practical and provided greater protection than the ensemble of your average hunter or huntress. On the down side because it was unusual people tended to stare. Like Blake was doing right now.

Stare all you like Blake. Though right now what I choose to wear should be the least of your concerns. Silence stretched out as she seemed to struggle with what to say.

The ball was in her court now and I wasn't about to make it easier on her by speaking again first. Blake's face was superficially impassive, calm, but my experience in dealing with people with something to hide told me I had unsettled her. The fact that pretty none of my face was visible because of the sunglasses and the high collar, thus denying her any easy way to get a read on me, was undoubtedly making things more difficult for her.

 _Too bad,_ I thought a tad viciously. _You should have been nicer to me._

"What do you mean by that?" Blake asked calmly, trying to appear unconcerned. The attempt was almost cute if she wanted me to think my words hadn't gotten to her. _Too little, too late_.

I smelled blood in the water, and I could tell my eyes began to glow slightly from excitement. Luckily my sunglasses kept my opponent from seeing such a reaction. I crossed my legs and turned to face her, gesturing and talking with my hands. "Exactly what I said. Just something for you to be mindful of. Most faunus students don't hide what they are at this school. If some of them did… well, it wouldn't be so crazy to wonder what _else_ they could be hiding. Wouldn't you agree?"

The more I spoke, the more Blake seemed to tense, the powerful muscles of her legs twitching as if preparing to spring. Her eyes briefly flickered to the sides, swiftly taking in where all the exits were once again. I didn't actually think she was about to run off but her tells definitely told me she was thinking about it. After a brief pause I spoke again, my voice trying for friendlier and less confrontational this time.

"But, I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself," I said, and held out a gloved hand. "Ember Fall. A pleasure to meet you."

Blake looked at my hand like it would bite her before reluctantly reaching out and shaking it, all the while looking at me with unease and wariness shining from behind those amber and yellow eyes. "Blake Belladonna. Likewise."

Well. At least she _could_ be polite. I smiled as I took my hand back, thought the smile was probably mostly lost on her due to all the material covering my face.

And just like that, I now had Blake Belladonna on the palm of my hand. Within reason, of course. Though it had been painfully simple with what I knew I was still feeling immensely pleased. However now the question was, what should I do with that power?

As cliché as it sounded, I suddenly found that I wanted to get at least a little bit close to her. Because with her backstory she was bound to be an interesting person. And because she was a member of the probably-soon-to-be team _RWBY_ , and having an in with that team so I could better keep track of them seemed like a good idea. After all in my memories they had regularly been a thorn – maybe even the _only_ major thorn – in Cinder's operations within Vale.

The fact that Blake was also drop dead gorgeous had absolutely no bearing at all on my decision.

Without thinking about it too hard, I decided to just go for it. I'd strong armed enough thugs and even crime lords in my day. Making a friend with a bit of leverage couldn't be all that different from, say, making someone reluctant into an informant, right?

Certainly it would be easier than making a friend _without_ leverage. After all I'd just tried befriending Blake the "normal" way and it had utterly backfired. Wasn't that proof enough of what was the best way to do things?

"I'll be honest Blake," I said, letting my head rest on my fist as the very picture of casual ease. "I don't really care about anyone's less than stellar past. We've all been there, right? We all have regrets from one time or another. As far as I'm concerned the subject never needs to be brought up again, if that is what you want."

Blake's brow furrowed, and she held herself ramrod straight and stiff. Now she had to be wondering how much, if anything, I knew about her past. I stayed silent until she felt compelled to reply to what I had just said. "Right," Blake said slowly in the end, her tone cautious and very carefully non-committal.

"You and I are here at Beacon for the same reason after all. To learn how to be huntresses," I said, feeling no remorse for my little white lie. "There's no reason at all for us not to be friends."

Blake blinked at that, her face going through a whole cacophony of emotions in just a few seconds before settling on shock. "Wait," she said, sounding genuinely disbelieving. "After all of that, everything you're… you're threatening… you're asking to be _friends_?"

I nodded easily. "Of course. Is it really so unbelievable? I'm new, I don't know anyone here, so I'm trying to make friends. And believe me Blake," I said, and leaned in meaningfully, coming awful close to violating her personal space. "You and I have a lot more in common than you realize."

Blake's eyes widened slightly at that, no doubt wondering what it was I thought I knew, how I could possibly know it, and fearing the worst. I saw her look me up and down again and I got the impression she was trying to see if I was also a faunus. I couldn't really smile enigmatically with my face covered up so instead I settled for crossing my arms and tilting my head in a way that radiated "smug confidence" as Emerald would say.

Blake narrowed her eyes at me, her voice coming out soft but laced with steel. "'Friends' don't blackmail each other."

"Why Blake," I questioned coyly, by habit immediately jumping on the weakness I could practically smell. "Are you saying that you have something to hide?"

Her eyes narrowed further, and a muscle in her jaw jumped angrily. I could sense that I was starting to push her too far. With a conciliatory tone I held up my hands in a sign of peace. "Easy. I'm not actually threatening you with anything, even if I _did_ know anything. All I'm saying is I don't know anyone here and unless I miss my guess, you don't either. Wouldn't it make sense to ally with someone who is reaching out? Especially someone who already knows and doesn't give a damn what is underneath the bow?"

Blake seemed to debate that for a long time, and I tried my best to look friendly and unthreatening. She would remember well enough the threat I represented without needing a reminder, I was sure. Eventually, looking pained and almost constipated, Blake nodded once before her face once more relaxed into an impassive mask. "Fine. Keep any unnecessary observations or knowledge to yourself. And we can try… being friends."

 _Mission successful_! "That's great," I said cheerfully. "You won't regret it."

"I'm sure… now if you'll excuse me Ember. I have somewhere I need to be."

Without waiting for a reply Blake stood up and left, walking away a little faster than was strictly necessary. I didn't let it bother me and instead proceeded to pat myself in the back for a job well done. It turned out making friends really _wasn't_ all that different from blackmail. Had I simply been doing it wrong all this time? Because honestly at this point – especially taking into account this latest Blake situation - I was pretty much convinced the whole "friends with no strings" thing was a myth, just like "true love" or the Chupaboarbatusk. I'd never seen any of those things in my seventeen years of life, even if people everywhere swore up and down that they existed. Maybe it was time to grow up and accept the reality of friendship for what it really was. An association between people to gain a net benefit for both parties involved.

The only exception, as always, was Cinder. She was the only one I'd ever had in my life who gave without any expectation of return. The only one who would put me ahead of herself. The only one who I in turn would put above myself without even a second of hesitation. That was precious, and in this completely rotten world it became even more reason for our own personal motto.

 _We stick together, and everyone else can Burn_.

And if our plans went off without a hitch, everything _would_.

0OoO0

A/N: The game she copied her outfit from is Bloodborne, the iconic "Hunter Outfit" from the main character.


End file.
